Thursday, August 31 2006

The actual meeting was a non-event and my manager was cool. It was more the bloody wait until I could hand in the letter that was the pain.

My manager was in late this morning, something about fatalities further down the track, so I sent him an email just after 9 asking for a private meeting.

He replied at noon suggesting to have it at 14.

He actually looked dumbfounded when I told him this is my resignation letter. He bought some time by reading it twice. I kept quiet so in the end he asked “What brought this on?”

I told him that we were planning to move to the US. I also said that basically it felt uncertain to work here so nothing held me back. He knew what I was talking about.

There more odd part was to tell my co-workers; my friend who already knew -read this post- and Golden girl. My friend laid it in big time and did the whole guilt thing and also manage to pop in “Who is going to get my PSP/bittorrents now?”. My manager looked almost chocked by her comments. It was funny. Golden girl was good & thought it was a good opportunity.

Well, at least it is in the open. I can now start to sort out details and ‘to do things’ at work. No more cryptic phone calls etc.

Selfishly, I hope that they will not find a replacement before I leave, if that is their plan … the Finance Director is on holiday, so I can get on with my stuff.

Tuesday, August 29 2006

My passport with my US Visa arrived today. It is black & white now 🙂 well colour actually. It feels more real now, the man @ Embassy did what he said he would.

I am handing in my resignation letter tomorrow 😉 Draft letter done. Mainly I feel like FINALLY but also a bit “shit, I have to tell my manager”. It will be in the next blog post.

We were out tonight and on our way home on the tube, we saw a man fall down the escalator (going up). We were going down when this happened. The man fell again and he had a wheely suitcase which was trying to balance again.

When he stood up, he was bleeding and was still wobbling. I ran down the escalator, ran up his escalator (the escalator at long at this station), MH stopped the escalator and I walked up with the man. He kept on saying that he was fine and didn’t need any help. At first, I was about to help him with his suitcase but it was blood on it and I was actually scared to touch it.

When we came closer up the end of the escalator, I walk up ahead to talk to LU worker. He got concerned when I said the man had fell and was bleeding.

The man took out a handkerchief and then realised that he was bleeding. He denied any help or ambulance but accepted the offer to go into their toilettes to clean up. I told him that maybe after he calm down and starts to feel where it hurts, then it would probably be a good precaution. I think he hit his head on the escalator and his balance was almost non-existence. The man was not a drunk but he did look like tourist.

When I walked down the escalator, I keep on checking my hands to see if I had any of his blood on me. They were clean.

Sunday, August 27 2006

Michael finished 3rd, after Alonso. I was up screaming at the TV but it didn’t help. I was angry as a bee.

The TV production was shit, absolutely shit and to my amassment, it was produced by Bernie’s team. Fucking loser who managed to miss anyone’s, not just Michael’s, quickest lap. They were obsessed by the any midfield battles. Massa, who was leading most of the race, got completely ignored.

ITV, the fuckwits, manage to put in ads every single time something interesting would happened.

Michael is 12 points after Alonso – he fucked up his quali and this is what happened. Not good at all.

One problem with the US is that F1 is not on their radar but apparently there is a TV channel called Speed that shows F1. There is also bar in SF that shows F1 so I guess I will be around there every second weekend.

Thursday, August 24 2006

I have not written anything about our visa process for many reason. But I feel I can do that today.

We have been to the US Embassy in London to submit our visa application. It was so nerve-wracking, mainly because the unknown. The decision has such a major impact and is ultimate beyond our control. Sure, we did all the prep we could, we had a US attorney (and/or lawyer … not sure about the difference) who helped with our application.

He played down our chances and the visa we applied is not that common for an Embassy to deal with. We did feel that the process has a certain amount of arbitrary elements in it. Logically, I can understand cos is not a right, is it an application. But ‘illogical’, I so want to try & do this move to SF.

The process is designed to be off putting. But if you want something bad enough then that is what you have to deal with. We are the ones who wants to go the US and therefore we have to follow their rules and accept the system.

There is a long wait before entering the Embassy and the only amusement around is the people who think that they don’t have to queue. But credit to the Americans, we were all got treated equally 😉 I even saw a ‘celebrity’ Paul Burell (Princess Diana’s butler) in the queue.

Everything is well organised and efficient from the queuing system to the processing inside of the embassy.

The interview was surprisingly short and I had the feeling the 99% decision had already been taken before we started the interview. The interviewer asked a few control question, ie he already knew the answer to it and was more observing us answering rather then the actual answer.

So, we are one huge step closer to move to SF. My guess is that the move will be mid October. And I will resign from my work *yippeeee* after I receive my passport back with the right stuff in it.

Saturday, August 19 2006

We ended up going to a newly (4 month ago) open cinema in our neighborhood. The standard of the screen, seats and general cleanness was very good – it is an independent cinema so all credit to them.

The film Harsh Times is definitely worth seeing. Good story, great acting and v. intense. I am not going to say too much cos I don’t want give anything away. This is a film where you should not know too much about beforehand and just enjoy the ride.

As for the trailer “You, Me and Dupree” – I have seen whole damn film with all the funny bits and it has manage to annoy me already. I won’t see that film and it is not my taste.